Gulf Shores, Alabama - Getting There

In April 2019 we had a 4 day weekend off from school. It was time for another family adventure! We decided to take a road trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama - about 600 miles from our home in Texas.

Gulf Shores State Park

We left home after school on a Thursday afternoon. We drove to Lafayette, Louisiana about 5 hours from home. This would be the halfway point on our road trip.

Arriving at our hotel around 10:00 PM, we were exhausted from a long day. The hotel was chosen based on two factors: 1. I had an almost free night stay. 2. The hotel received great reviews online.

Now for the details on our 1 night stay in Lafayette, Louisiana. We stayed at the Comfort Suites Lafayette Oil Center located at 114 Rue Fernand Lafayette, Louisiana. The online reviews were stellar! I was excited about the prospect I was getting 1 night at a discounted rate of $45 because I had rewards points. We arrived and were impressed with the exterior. So far so good... The clerk who checked us in was welcoming and friendly. We headed to our room on the 3rd floor away from the elevator as requested.

The room was TERRIBLE! The duvet on both beds were grungy with stains. One of the bed sheets had hair in it. It was obviously not changed from the previous people. The other bed's comforter had a dime-sized stain on it. The walls in the room had stains and chipped paint. Then there was the bathroom... UGH!!! The wall behind the toilet had stains running down it. The toilet had a ring around the bowl and it was obvious it had not been cleaned. The tub had rust stains and brown chips of something. Needless to say I called the front desk. The clerk came to my room immediately and inspected the aforementioned problems. He offered to give us another room. After I inspected that room, we decided to stay. The room appeared to be cleaner. However there was still chipped paint on the walls, the coffee table corner was chipped away, and there was a stain on the floor as you enter the room. To sum it up, it was 10:30 PM and we were tired so I kept the room. Had it been earlier in the evening we would have found another hotel. I cannot recommend this hotel to anyone, no matter what the online reviews say this place is terrible!

We got up early Friday morning and headed out to Gulf Shores, Alabama. It is about a 4-5 hour drive from Lafayette to our destination.

Interstate 10 in Louisiana seems to have heavy traffic every time we travel. If you take a road trip across southern Louisiana be prepared for LOTS of traffic. We enjoyed the scenery of southern Louisiana despite all the traffic.

Surprisingly, once I-10 east splits to go south to New Orleans traffic seems to get much better on I-12 east. It's as though everyone on I-10 eastbound was going to New Orleans and almost no one was going to Mississippi. After a couple of hours of driving across Louisiana we make it to Mississippi!

In a little over an hour we are in Alabama. Coming from Texas it is hard to imagine driving across a state in such a short amount of time.

Make sure to stop at the Alabama Welcome Center. You will find lots of information and coupons for Gulf Shores and southern Alabama. It is definitely worth your time to stop and visit with the friendly staff at the Welcome Center. The bathrooms are clean too. :-)

About 25 minutes from the Welcome Center you will arrive in Mobile, Alabama. My son always enjoys Mobile because of the tunnel & the USS Alabama on the other side of the tunnel.

One day we will actually take the time to stop and tour the USS Alabama. It gets great reviews online!

By 2:00 PM we arrived in Gulf Shores. We probably would have been there earlier but... there is a new Buc-ee's at the exit to Gulf Shores and we HAD to stop. Never pass up a Buc-ee's - that's our motto!

We arrived at our destination! Now what? In the coming days I will post about our 3 days in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Subscribe to my blog so you do not miss a single post.

If you have any questions about our trip, post in the comment section. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope it helps you as you plan your next adventure.

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About Us

Welcome to 1GR8VACATION! I created this blog to help families plan their next vacation, while maintaining a budget. I am the proud mother of a teenage son, wife to a great husband, and a middle school teacher. We have been blessed to visit many great places on our journey. I am excited to share with you some travel tips as you plan your next family getaway.